OREANDA-NEWS. new line required ?10 mln of investments. The opening ceremony was attended by Vice Governor of Tula Region Alexey Korablev, and Deputy Governors Vladimir Pervukhin and Alexander Tkachenko.

After cutting the ribbon and starting the line Vice-Governor of Tula Region Alexey Korablev drove the loader with the freshly bottled Baltika Cooler palette to the finished product warehouse.

The new line, capable of putting out some 70,000 bottles an hour, was built within the framework of Baltika Breweries Investment Policy Program, which focuses on cutting costs while retaining high quality of the finished product.

The new bottling line will allow the Tula branch of Baltika Breweries to bottle beer in innovative packaging, including all shapes of glass bottles and embossing technology, where the brand name is printed on the glass and the label is applied to the precisely defined area (as in Tuborg Green, Baltika Cooler, etc.). As of today, beer in glass bottles is most popular among consumers.

The new bottling line and expansion of production provided 142 new jobs for the plant and the local community.

Roman Firsanov, General Manager, Baltika-Tula Branch of OJSC Baltika Breweries: "We open the new high-output bottling line as the Tula Branch turns five. Over this time we invested USD 200 mln in developing the plant. The new modern bottling line will allow Baltika-Tula to become one of technologically most modern European enterprises".

Alexey Korablev, Vice-Governor of Tula Region: "The Regional Administration is working hard on creating attractive investment climate for the region. Introducing the new bottling line will help create new jobs and serve a good example of fruitful cooperation between authorities and business.

Baltika-Tula branch is the largest taxpayer of Tula Region. In 2006 the branch company paid over RUR 1,5 bln into the regional budget. In November 2006 the enterprise was recognized the best taxpayer of the year. At present the Company employs over 1,000 people. The average salary at the enterprise is RUR 23,000.

Valentina Golubeva, a star of What? Where? When? Intellectual TV Club and winner of two Crystal Owls and Eduard Bagirov, a famous Moscow writer, author of famous Gastarbeiter novel also expressed their interest in Tula Branch of Baltika, and the innovative bottling line.